Johnny Manziel Giving Zero Fucks About Film Study Makes It Even Funnier That He More Or Less Ruined Two Big-Name Coaches' Careers
Ever since Netflix's Johnny Football documentary dropped as part of its Untold series, the Internet has been ablaze about the troubled ex-quarterback's meteoric rise and stunning fall. Johnny Manziel is a classic case of self-sabotage and self-destruction. He embraced his Johnny Fuckin' Football, hard-partying lifestyle to the fullest at the cost of professional excellence.
While a lot of Manziel's problems were nobody's fault but his own, he was the biggest rockstar in college football history. I've never seen someone in sports that young achieve that much success and be avalanched by that much celebrity status overnight. Johnny behaved how I believe most typical college kids would. He just couldn't say no to all the fame and attention. Hell, if I won the Heisman Trophy in my first year as a starter and dominated the SEC while partying my ass off, I'd have a hard time listening to what anyone had to say about what my best interests are, either. Especially at that age.
We've had a lot of Johnny Football blogs lately. Had to plug Kayce Smith's at the top, because she crushed that thing. Hubbs covered the made-up story about the alleged familial oil fortune Manziel hailed from. Billy Football naturally chimed in and covered how Johnny's dad was going to fake a heart attack to get his son out of drug testing at the NFL Scouting Combine. Will Burge called out how much of a bust the Browns' other first-round pick from Manziel's year was. Yup. Cornerback Justin Gilbert. YOWZA. And Tate was on the story about Johnny half-bragging about watching zero minutes of film on his tablet/Surface/whatever.
That one got me thinking about a variety of things. Because yeah, I was a huge Johnny Manziel fan when he was at Texas A&M, and as a Columbus guy, shoot, JFF coming to play professionally in Ohio!? Let's GOOOOOOOOOO.
One thing that bothers me about the perception of Johnny in the NFL: Everyone dismisses him as a first-round talent. I don't know what the fuck anyone was watching, but the dude had a legit cannon for an arm. His straight-line speed wasn't special, yet his quickness was. In his final NFL game, he ran for 108 yards against the Chiefs! That's neither here nor there! That actually happened! And after the fact, it was reported he may have been concussed all the while.
"Average athlete by NFL standards" some people say. Da fuq!? No, he wasn't worth the first overall pick, but to say Manziel wasn't worth a rather cheap, late first-round flier? I don't get it. Especially since he was able to hoodwink his way through interviews well enough to give off the impression that he had a strong work ethic. LOL.
What I'm about to get into is why I wrote this. It dawned on me recently: Johnny Manziel took a significant step up in Year 2, thanks to the mentorship of his teammate and current Panthers QB coach Josh McCown. All the numbers don't look pretty. Big surprise. This was the year before the Browns gutted their shit and started that nonsense 1-31 run and the targets Manziel had to throw to were fucking garbage. AND he didn't study film away from the team facility.
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However…in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans, former NFC championship-winning head coach Ken Whisenhunt felt the wrath of Johnny Football and never recovered:
NFL Media NARCs prevent me from embedding full highlights of this one-man electric factory, which can be found here for your viewing pleasure.
Whisenhunt had gone 2-14 in his first season at the helm in Tennessee. Not the best return to the profession upon taking a gap year from the end of his rather decent tenure in Arizona. In Week 1 of 2015, the Titans smacked the Bucs 42-17. Marcus Mariota completed 13 of 15 passes for 208 yards, four TDs and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. This Tennessee team was off and running. RIGHT!?
That fateful day in Cleveland where JFF was ripping bombs to Travis Benjamin marked the first of six losses in a row for Whisenhunt. What a turn of events from that magical season opener in Mariota's debut. At 1-6 and 3-20 overall with the Titans, Whisenhunt was fired. He went back to the Chargers for several years as an offensive coordinator, helped them to one playoff win, and got let go in 2019. Resurfaced as an "offensive analyst" for Penn State in 2021 and is now at Alabama as "special assistant" to Nick Saban. Alrighty then.
Now for the even steeper off-a-cliff trajectory: Eric Mangini. Mangenius? MY ASS. Johnny fucking smoked this dude when he was the 49ers' defensive coordinator. Hilariously, this was the very game when Manziel infamously smashed his head into a tablet following an interception.
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Manziel's numbers aside from that INT in a 24-10 win were as follows: 21-for-30 passing, 270 yards, 1 TD, 109 passer rating.
Yeah, Johnny was out of the league at the end of that season — but so was Mangini! That's right. Poor guy pivoted to TV for a myriad of reasons I'm sure. If he knew just how little Manziel had prepared to take the Niners to the woodshed, Mangini might've quit on the spot. Such the opposite of that Patriot Way he learned so well under Bill Belichick in New England.
Cowherd, my guy…you had Mangenius on your show on Friday and DIDN'T ASK HIM about the Johnny doc!?!?! He's based in Cleveland! You opened with a Browns question!!
Anyway. So what if the Titans and 49ers combined to finish 8-24 during that 2015 season? The fact is, Johnny Manziel catalyzed the demise of Super Bowl head coach Ken Whisenhunt, and a key assistant on three Patriots Lombardi Trophy-winning teams in Eric Mangini. This man gave the Jets hope in some of their darkest days in the mid-2000s, and even squeezed out a couple 5-11 records for the Browns with QBs like Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, and Colt McCoy to go with a shit roster. That he may or may not have had a lot of control over but SHHHHHHH.
Point of all this is, next time somebody tells you Johnny couldn't hack it in the pros from a football IQ and/or talent perspective, this is your rebuttal. What if JFF actually fucking worked at it? Sadly we'll never know. What a shame.
On a happier note, here's Johnny Football doing his dance at A&M:
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Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok